You won't find me ever attacking Thierry Henry's Arsenal legacy on this blog. You won't find me slagging off the man Arsenal fans referred affectionately to as TH14. But his sale this past summer was one of the biggest catalysts to Arsenal's strong start this season and it's something I felt would happen all along.
On the heels of today's Champions League group stage opener against Sevilla, I felt it was as good a time as ever to point out the renewed confidence that has come from Arsenal's £16m sale of Henry to Barcelona.
Let's go back to late June when the move occurred and the immediate writing off of Arsenal that transfixed pundits everywhere.
Headlines like "Arsenal reeling as £16m Henry joins Barcelona" were found everyone in the media. Tottenham was picked to finish fourth as so-called "experts" were picking the Gunners to finish anywhere from fifth to seventh in the league.
Oh how wrong they seem to have been.
Thierry Henry was a legend at Arsenal. Arguably the best player in the world for three or four seasons, it was a treat for Gunners fans to watch Titi perform some of the best moves in football and score exquisite goals time and time again.
But it was time for the relationship between the club and the player to be severed and kudos to Arsene Wenger for making it happen.
Fast-forward to now and you'll see the changes evident in North London. Cesc Fabregas has taken over the role as best player on the team and you'd be hard pressed to convince me that anyone in the Premier League is having a better season than young Cesc. In fact, I don't think you could.
Scoring goals and setting up others with his picture perfect passing, Cesc has become the Premier League's most dangerous midfielder and the players around him are benefiting.
No longer centered on getting TH14 the ball, Arsenal's free-form interpretation of the beautiful game (nobody plays prettier in England, if not the world) has flourished thus far this season.
Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie have become two of the most capable strikers in the league and I'd venture to put RvP as one of the best players in the world right now.
However, the biggest impact of Henry's departure can be seen on every other player on Arsenal's side. Gone are the facial reminders from Henry that the youngsters in the club weren't up to his form when ball after ball failed to reach him perfectly. Gone therefore are the tense nerves of those same youngsters who strived to please their best player in everything they did. Instead the goals can seemingly come from anywhere on the pitch, a luxury that most coaches in the Premier League would love to have.
The club is back playing with as much confidence as ever and I think it is best manifested in the psyche of Arsenal fans around the world. There is a return of the belief that Arsenal will score even when they are down and that is something that has been missing the past two seasons.
After falling behind Fulham in the opener, Arsenal scored twice to get the win. Against Manchester City, a late goal gave the Gunners three points when last season they would have earned one for the draw or even worse, lost on a fluke goal. And the biggest example of the return of Arsenal came at White Hart Lane on Saturday.
Down 1-0 to hated rivals Tottenham, there was never a moment of concern in my mind that Arsenal wouldn't come back, and they proved it with a stunning comeback that punctuated their return to the top of the table with a 3-1 victory.
There is a long way to go, and even Arsene Wenger will admit that plenty could still play out in Arsenal's first post-Henry season
I knew I took a gamble by losing Thierry - but you cannot keep (players like Emmanuel) Adebayor (out). At his age you have to let him play. I am not surprised that we have started well - but they have confirmed my hopes. They have strengthened my belief that this team can do well, but you have to show it on the pitch.
And so far they have and it appears that Henry's sale to Barcelona was the best thing that could have happened to Arsenal and that is something very few people agreed with me about back in the heat of the summer.
2007年9月19日星期三
Reports Suggest Wenger In For Sevilla Star Capel
With Arsenal and Sevilla set to face each other in the opening fixture of Group H in the Champions League on Wednesday night, the clubs have been linked in an off-the-field story.
The Daily Mirror suggests that Arsene Wenger is ready to make a move for Sevilla prodigy Diego Capel.
The midfielder shone in the recent Under 20 World Cup in Canada, scoring a sweet volley against Uruguay in the opening game of the tournament for Spain.
It has been well documented that Wenger has money to spend on transfers, with a potential £50million being released in the following months after a bumper financial year.
Capel, who is most comfortable in his natural position on the left of a midfield four, is thought to be valued at around £8million, and has been likened to former Arsenal man Jose Antonio Reyes, with pace, acceleration and technique the bedrock to his game.
The 19-year-old said: It’s great praise to have big clubs in Europe interested in me.”
The Daily Mirror suggests that Arsene Wenger is ready to make a move for Sevilla prodigy Diego Capel.
The midfielder shone in the recent Under 20 World Cup in Canada, scoring a sweet volley against Uruguay in the opening game of the tournament for Spain.
It has been well documented that Wenger has money to spend on transfers, with a potential £50million being released in the following months after a bumper financial year.
Capel, who is most comfortable in his natural position on the left of a midfield four, is thought to be valued at around £8million, and has been likened to former Arsenal man Jose Antonio Reyes, with pace, acceleration and technique the bedrock to his game.
The 19-year-old said: It’s great praise to have big clubs in Europe interested in me.”
Arsenal recebe Sevilla em estréia complicada na Liga dos Campeões
O Arsenal enfrenta nesta quarta, às 15h45min (de Brasília) o Sevilla no Emirates Stadium, pelo Grupo H da Liga dos Campeões, numa estréia considerada nada fácil pelos ingleses, pois enfrentam o outro candidato ao primeiro lugar da chave. Em outro jogo da chave, no mesmo horário, Slavia Praga recebe o Steaua Bucareste na República Tcheca.
Embora seja o atual líder do Campeonato Inglês, o Arsenal terá pela frente um time que volta à Liga 50 anos depois e que chega credenciado pela conquista de duas edições da Copa da Uefa (2006 e 2007) e uma Supercopa da Europa (2006), além de ser o atual segundo colocado do Espanhol - com um ponto a menos que o líder Real Madrid.
Um dos responsáveis pela boa fase do time inglês é o meia espanhol Cesc Fábregas, peça-chave tanto na marcação como na criação de jogadas no meio-campo. Além disso, ele já fez três gols na atual temporada. Além disso, a equipe teve uma boa notícia nos últimos dias: o francês Arsene Wenger, técnico da equipe, renovou contrato e comandará o clube até 2011.
No Sevilla do técnico Juande Ramos, a principal novidade é o retorno do atacante brasileiro Luís Fabiano, poupado na goleada de 4 a 1 sobre o Recreativo, pelo Espanhol. O volante Renato fica no banco. Outros dois que voltam são o alemão Andreas Hinkel e o francês Julien Escudé, ambos para reforçar a zaga.
Por outro lado, não foi relacionado o meia e lateral-esquerdo Adriano, que ainda não se recuperou completamente de uma lesão que o impediu de jogar nesta temporada. Além disso, seguem de fora o espanhol Javi Navarro, capitão do time, o belga Tom de Mul, o colombiano Aquivaldo Mosquera e o atacante marfinense Arouna Koné – estes três últimos recém-contratados.
Embora seja o atual líder do Campeonato Inglês, o Arsenal terá pela frente um time que volta à Liga 50 anos depois e que chega credenciado pela conquista de duas edições da Copa da Uefa (2006 e 2007) e uma Supercopa da Europa (2006), além de ser o atual segundo colocado do Espanhol - com um ponto a menos que o líder Real Madrid.
Um dos responsáveis pela boa fase do time inglês é o meia espanhol Cesc Fábregas, peça-chave tanto na marcação como na criação de jogadas no meio-campo. Além disso, ele já fez três gols na atual temporada. Além disso, a equipe teve uma boa notícia nos últimos dias: o francês Arsene Wenger, técnico da equipe, renovou contrato e comandará o clube até 2011.
No Sevilla do técnico Juande Ramos, a principal novidade é o retorno do atacante brasileiro Luís Fabiano, poupado na goleada de 4 a 1 sobre o Recreativo, pelo Espanhol. O volante Renato fica no banco. Outros dois que voltam são o alemão Andreas Hinkel e o francês Julien Escudé, ambos para reforçar a zaga.
Por outro lado, não foi relacionado o meia e lateral-esquerdo Adriano, que ainda não se recuperou completamente de uma lesão que o impediu de jogar nesta temporada. Além disso, seguem de fora o espanhol Javi Navarro, capitão do time, o belga Tom de Mul, o colombiano Aquivaldo Mosquera e o atacante marfinense Arouna Koné – estes três últimos recém-contratados.
Champion's League : Arsenal vs Sevilla
After they won the UEFA cup twice in a row, Seville have the chance to try out among the best. This is their debut in The Champions League although they have more experience in European matches than some of the constant participants of this championship. On the other hand Arsenal will participate tenth time in a row in this elite competition.
Seville, after the third place in Primera last year, winning AEK from Athens, found their way to the Champions League. They continued to play as good as in the last season and with 18 goals out of last five matches they are threatening to be the serious candidates for winning the trophy this season. The team remained the same, they kept Dani Alves who was close to a transfer to Chelsea, while the coach Juande Ramos is still on the bench in spite the rumors that he will be transferred to London but to a place of Tottenhams coach. The defense line is made of the experienced Kanoute who played for the mentioned London club, Russian international Kerzakov Luis Fabiano and newly signed Seydor Kelta and Aruna Kone. Kerzakov who played with his national team of Russia few days ago and Kanuto come to the Emirates stadium with two goals, and they hope to repeat the game against Recreativo. Javi Navaro will miss this match while Juande Ramos will have Luis Fabiano, excellent defender Escude and Hinkel at his disposal.
Arsenal started the new season in Premier league very good and after almost three years they are again on the head of the standings. After Tierry Henry left, not even the greatest optimists in Arsenal hoped for such good start. After the victory against Tottenham on White Hart Lane it is evident that the team have the quality and that they can keep the continuity in their game. The key man of Arsen Wenger this season is the Spanish twenty year old player Fabregas. His creativity in the midfield was enough to outmatch the city rival Portsmouth, as well as Sparta in the Champions League and Manchester City before that. Wenger has problems with injured players but these are no news when we remember the last match in the Premier league. Gallas and Ebou will play which could create problems in the defense of one of the most efficient teams in Europe.
A very uncertain match; these teams havent met in the last ten seasons. Goals are expected in both nets although Arsenal usually dont finish the games in Champions League with many goals. You can expect them to be additionally careful because of the importance of this match and the debut of Seville. The advantage of home ground can also be crucial so you should try Arsenal win with a handicap.
Seville, after the third place in Primera last year, winning AEK from Athens, found their way to the Champions League. They continued to play as good as in the last season and with 18 goals out of last five matches they are threatening to be the serious candidates for winning the trophy this season. The team remained the same, they kept Dani Alves who was close to a transfer to Chelsea, while the coach Juande Ramos is still on the bench in spite the rumors that he will be transferred to London but to a place of Tottenhams coach. The defense line is made of the experienced Kanoute who played for the mentioned London club, Russian international Kerzakov Luis Fabiano and newly signed Seydor Kelta and Aruna Kone. Kerzakov who played with his national team of Russia few days ago and Kanuto come to the Emirates stadium with two goals, and they hope to repeat the game against Recreativo. Javi Navaro will miss this match while Juande Ramos will have Luis Fabiano, excellent defender Escude and Hinkel at his disposal.
Arsenal started the new season in Premier league very good and after almost three years they are again on the head of the standings. After Tierry Henry left, not even the greatest optimists in Arsenal hoped for such good start. After the victory against Tottenham on White Hart Lane it is evident that the team have the quality and that they can keep the continuity in their game. The key man of Arsen Wenger this season is the Spanish twenty year old player Fabregas. His creativity in the midfield was enough to outmatch the city rival Portsmouth, as well as Sparta in the Champions League and Manchester City before that. Wenger has problems with injured players but these are no news when we remember the last match in the Premier league. Gallas and Ebou will play which could create problems in the defense of one of the most efficient teams in Europe.
A very uncertain match; these teams havent met in the last ten seasons. Goals are expected in both nets although Arsenal usually dont finish the games in Champions League with many goals. You can expect them to be additionally careful because of the importance of this match and the debut of Seville. The advantage of home ground can also be crucial so you should try Arsenal win with a handicap.
Hill-Wood blasts takeover talk
Peter Hill-Wood has accused David Dein of destabilising the club and says Arsenal will not sell out to Alisher Usmanov.
The Russian billionaire increased his stake in the club to 21 percent on Tuesday and that has not gone down well with Arsenal chairman Hill-Wood, who does not want to sell out to his company Red and White Holdings Ltd.
Hill-Wood is not happy with David Dein's involvement with Usmanov and would prefer to hold talks with American businessman Stan Kroenke.
"I would think Kroenke is probably a long-term investor and I would welcome him as a shareholder more than Usmanov - unquestionably," Hill-Wood told the Daily Telegraph.
"He is involved in sport and understands it. As for Usmanov, I am not sure what he wants or why he wants to get involved. He is clearly a very determined fellow, but it won't get him anywhere. It doesn't change anything.
"The board is absolutely resolute and they have no intention of selling to Dein and Usmanov. This is all very disruptive and I can understand the fans being upset. The club has been stable for many years and this is destabilising it.
"I think David is very much the architect of that."
The Russian billionaire increased his stake in the club to 21 percent on Tuesday and that has not gone down well with Arsenal chairman Hill-Wood, who does not want to sell out to his company Red and White Holdings Ltd.
Hill-Wood is not happy with David Dein's involvement with Usmanov and would prefer to hold talks with American businessman Stan Kroenke.
"I would think Kroenke is probably a long-term investor and I would welcome him as a shareholder more than Usmanov - unquestionably," Hill-Wood told the Daily Telegraph.
"He is involved in sport and understands it. As for Usmanov, I am not sure what he wants or why he wants to get involved. He is clearly a very determined fellow, but it won't get him anywhere. It doesn't change anything.
"The board is absolutely resolute and they have no intention of selling to Dein and Usmanov. This is all very disruptive and I can understand the fans being upset. The club has been stable for many years and this is destabilising it.
"I think David is very much the architect of that."
ARSENAL v SEVILLA - CESC: WE MUST KEEP WINNING
Cesc Fabregas has urged his Arsenal team-mates to maintain their excellent start to the season.
The Gunners struggled to keep pace with the Premier League leaders from the start of last season and finished 21 points behind champions Manchester United.
But they moved top after five games of the new campaign with a 3-1 victory over north London rivals Tottenham on Saturday.
Fabregas has scored five goals already this term, one more than in the whole of the last campaign, and is happy to have contributed to Arsenal's flying start.
"Last season I had chances and never scored. But this year I've had even less and scored more," the Spaniard said in The Sun.
"We need to keep winning, which was what we were missing the last two seasons.
"We lost a lot of points at the beginning, had to come back, and it was too difficult as the teams at the top did not lose any points.
"We're on a good run but have to keep going as this was just one game. It's just the beginning."
The Gunners struggled to keep pace with the Premier League leaders from the start of last season and finished 21 points behind champions Manchester United.
But they moved top after five games of the new campaign with a 3-1 victory over north London rivals Tottenham on Saturday.
Fabregas has scored five goals already this term, one more than in the whole of the last campaign, and is happy to have contributed to Arsenal's flying start.
"Last season I had chances and never scored. But this year I've had even less and scored more," the Spaniard said in The Sun.
"We need to keep winning, which was what we were missing the last two seasons.
"We lost a lot of points at the beginning, had to come back, and it was too difficult as the teams at the top did not lose any points.
"We're on a good run but have to keep going as this was just one game. It's just the beginning."
Wenger Purrs Over Settled Arsenal, But Admits Henry Gamble
Arsenal are the surprise early leaders of the Premiership, having made detractors eat humble pie after an assured start to the season.
Many in and around the game thought the North London outfit would struggle in the absence of star man Thierry Henry, but so far the team looks to have taken collective responsibility and look back to their best.
Wenger agrees that his side have flourished this season, but denies that they play with more freedom without the imposing personality of Henry.
"The dynamic is very good and that is because the team has played together for a while now," he told Arsenal.com.
"We play well and overall we have the same understanding of the game. That is positive but you cannot relate that to the fact that Thierry is not with the team anymore. I expected the team to grow anyway.
"When a world-class player like Thierry Henry goes other players take more responsibility and that speeds up the blossoming of some individuals and pushes them to take more initiative.
"I would not say we play with more freedom [without Henry]. The natural way of the team always goes through the strong players. With Thierry not being there it goes through some other ways."
The Frenchman admits that letting one of the world’s best footballers leave the club was a gamble, and one that has not yet proven entirely beneficial.
"It was a big gamble, and it is one I have not won yet because we have only played five games and it is nothing," said Wenger, who let his star man join Barcelona during the summer.
"I knew I took a gamble by losing Thierry - but you cannot keep (players like Emmanuel) Adebayor (out). At his age you have to let him play.
"I am not surprised that we have started well - but they have confirmed my hopes.
"They have strengthened my belief that this team can do well, but you have to show it on the pitch."
With Arsenal flying high in the league, Wenger knows that the visit of Sevilla will provide a tough test for his side.
He said: "My players must show the same belief, drive and consistency they have shown in the Premier League so far.
"There is a hunger in every game to play, and we just want to continue that. It is a different kind of football."
Many in and around the game thought the North London outfit would struggle in the absence of star man Thierry Henry, but so far the team looks to have taken collective responsibility and look back to their best.
Wenger agrees that his side have flourished this season, but denies that they play with more freedom without the imposing personality of Henry.
"The dynamic is very good and that is because the team has played together for a while now," he told Arsenal.com.
"We play well and overall we have the same understanding of the game. That is positive but you cannot relate that to the fact that Thierry is not with the team anymore. I expected the team to grow anyway.
"When a world-class player like Thierry Henry goes other players take more responsibility and that speeds up the blossoming of some individuals and pushes them to take more initiative.
"I would not say we play with more freedom [without Henry]. The natural way of the team always goes through the strong players. With Thierry not being there it goes through some other ways."
The Frenchman admits that letting one of the world’s best footballers leave the club was a gamble, and one that has not yet proven entirely beneficial.
"It was a big gamble, and it is one I have not won yet because we have only played five games and it is nothing," said Wenger, who let his star man join Barcelona during the summer.
"I knew I took a gamble by losing Thierry - but you cannot keep (players like Emmanuel) Adebayor (out). At his age you have to let him play.
"I am not surprised that we have started well - but they have confirmed my hopes.
"They have strengthened my belief that this team can do well, but you have to show it on the pitch."
With Arsenal flying high in the league, Wenger knows that the visit of Sevilla will provide a tough test for his side.
He said: "My players must show the same belief, drive and consistency they have shown in the Premier League so far.
"There is a hunger in every game to play, and we just want to continue that. It is a different kind of football."
Hill-Wood rules out Arsenal sale
Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood insists the club's board is "absolutely resolute" in its intention not to sell up to Alisher Usmanov.
The Uzbek billionaire increased his stake in the Premier League club to 21 per cent on Tuesday, just weeks after purchasing former vice-chairman David Dein's share in the Gunners.
Dein is now involved in Usmanov's Red and White Holdings Limited group, which has become the second largest shareholder in Arsenal.
But Usmanov's enlarged stake at the Emirates Stadium has not been welcomed by Hill-Wood, who also feels Dein has been a key figure in destabilising the club.
And Hill-Wood now appears inclined to hold talks with American businessman Stan Kroenke, whose own investment in Arsenal was not originally well received by the board.
Women's World Cup
Up-to-the-minute scores
Full tournament coverage
"I would think Kroenke is probably a long-term investor and I would welcome him as a shareholder more than Usmanov - unquestionably," Hill-Wood told the Daily Telegraph.
"He is involved in sport and understands it. As for Usmanov, I am not sure what he wants or why he wants to get involved.
"He is clearly a very determined fellow, but it won't get him anywhere. It doesn't change anything.
"The board is absolutely resolute and they have no intention of selling to Dein and Usmanov.
"This is all very disruptive and I can understand the fans being upset. The club has been stable for many years and this is destabilising it.
"I think David is very much the architect of that."
The Uzbek billionaire increased his stake in the Premier League club to 21 per cent on Tuesday, just weeks after purchasing former vice-chairman David Dein's share in the Gunners.
Dein is now involved in Usmanov's Red and White Holdings Limited group, which has become the second largest shareholder in Arsenal.
But Usmanov's enlarged stake at the Emirates Stadium has not been welcomed by Hill-Wood, who also feels Dein has been a key figure in destabilising the club.
And Hill-Wood now appears inclined to hold talks with American businessman Stan Kroenke, whose own investment in Arsenal was not originally well received by the board.
Women's World Cup
Up-to-the-minute scores
Full tournament coverage
"I would think Kroenke is probably a long-term investor and I would welcome him as a shareholder more than Usmanov - unquestionably," Hill-Wood told the Daily Telegraph.
"He is involved in sport and understands it. As for Usmanov, I am not sure what he wants or why he wants to get involved.
"He is clearly a very determined fellow, but it won't get him anywhere. It doesn't change anything.
"The board is absolutely resolute and they have no intention of selling to Dein and Usmanov.
"This is all very disruptive and I can understand the fans being upset. The club has been stable for many years and this is destabilising it.
"I think David is very much the architect of that."
2007年9月18日星期二
Trio still out so Wenger mulls over Gilberto decision
Arsène Wenger has one decision to make ahead of the Champions League Group H opener against Sevilla at Emirates Stadium on Wednesday.
Arsenal still have William Gallas (groin), Emmanuel Eboue (ankle) and Jens Lehmann (elbow) out. But the manager is mulling over whether to rest Gilberto now Philippe Senderos is back from suspension.
The Brazilian filled in at centre back against Tottenham on Saturday despite a globe-trotting week on international duty.
“We are still without William Gallas, Emmanuel Eboue and Jens Lehmann,” said Wenger. “I have not decided [about Gilberto] yet. I will decide tomorrow but Senderos is back in the squad.”
Gallas is to be expected back for the West Ham game a week on Saturday.
Arsenal still have William Gallas (groin), Emmanuel Eboue (ankle) and Jens Lehmann (elbow) out. But the manager is mulling over whether to rest Gilberto now Philippe Senderos is back from suspension.
The Brazilian filled in at centre back against Tottenham on Saturday despite a globe-trotting week on international duty.
“We are still without William Gallas, Emmanuel Eboue and Jens Lehmann,” said Wenger. “I have not decided [about Gilberto] yet. I will decide tomorrow but Senderos is back in the squad.”
Gallas is to be expected back for the West Ham game a week on Saturday.
Arsenal takeover rumours escalate
Speculation over whether Arsenal will be taken over by billionaire Alisher Usmanov has grown after the Russian increased his stake in the London football club to 21 per cent.
Arsenal’s chair, Peter Hill-Wood has already declared that the club’s key shareholders had no intention of selling, but Usmanov’s Red & White Holdings vehicle now has the second largest stake after Danny Fiszman, a non-executive director at Arsenal, who holds 25 per cent of the shares.
David Dein, former vice-chair at Arsenal, sold his shares to Usmanov for £75m in April, when he left the club after reported boardroom differences over investment possibilities. Dein is now chair of Red & White Holdings, adding fuel to the fire that a takeover may be on the cards.
If Arsenal does get taken over, it will be the latest in a raft of Premier League teams to have been acquired by foreign investors.
Arsenal’s chair, Peter Hill-Wood has already declared that the club’s key shareholders had no intention of selling, but Usmanov’s Red & White Holdings vehicle now has the second largest stake after Danny Fiszman, a non-executive director at Arsenal, who holds 25 per cent of the shares.
David Dein, former vice-chair at Arsenal, sold his shares to Usmanov for £75m in April, when he left the club after reported boardroom differences over investment possibilities. Dein is now chair of Red & White Holdings, adding fuel to the fire that a takeover may be on the cards.
If Arsenal does get taken over, it will be the latest in a raft of Premier League teams to have been acquired by foreign investors.
Arsenal: Wenger apprécie Séville
Arsenal reçoit le FC Séville mercredi soir à l'Emirates Stadium. L'occasion pour Arsène Wenger et ses hommes de se frotter à une formation andalouse en pleine forme en ce début de saison : "Je connais très bien Séville, et je pense que c'est l'une des meilleures équipes d'Europe. C'est un match qui, dès le début, va dicter le potentiel des deux équipes. C'est important pour nous de bien jouer puisque nous serons à domicile. Nous devrons être très concentrés pour prouver que nous avons le niveau, et, plus important encore, pour nous mettre en bonne position en vue de la qualification", a assuré le manager des Gunners sur le site de l'UEFA.
They played for both...Arsenal and Sevilla
Arsenal will resume their 10th successive Champions League campaign against debutants Sevilla on Wednesday night. Arsenal.com's Matt Fortune kicks off our comprehensive build-up to the Group H tie with a look at the star names who have graced the shirts of both clubs.
Davor Suker
Sevilla 1991-96, Arsenal 1999-00
With Sevilla: 153 Appearances, 76 Goals With Arsenal: 39 Appearances, 11 Goals
Signed by Arsène Wenger in 1999 from Real Madrid, Croatian legend Suker played just one season for the Gunners. His time at the Club came towards the end of his glittering career and he scored eight times in 22 appearances. In Spain he scored twice on his Sevilla debut and in the subsequent five years he earned praise across the globe as one of the finest strikers of the time.
Lauren
Sevilla 'B' 1997-1997, Arsenal 2000-2007
With Sevilla 'B': 17 Appearances, 3 Goals With Arsenal: 241 Appearances, 9 Goals
Raised in Sevilla, Lauren played in their ‘B’ team for one year at the age of 19. He played 17 times, scoring three goals, before a move to Levante and then Mallorca from who Arsenal signed him in 2000. He made an instant impact scoring eight minutes into his Highbury debut against Liverpool. The Cameroonian went on to play 241 times for Arsenal, scoring nine times.
Josè Antonio Reyes
Sevilla 1999-2004, Arsenal 2004-2007
With Sevilla: 95 Appearances, 25 Goals With Arsenal: 110 Appearances, 23 Goals
Reyes joined Sevilla aged 10 and remained there until his big-money transfer to Arsenal in January 2004. He was a popular figure having been born and raised in the city and his reputation as a versatile forward attracted interest from all over. Reyes made an early impact at Arsenal with two goals to knock Chelsea out the FA Cup. He left Arsenal less than two years after joining and spent one year on loan at Real Madrid before securing a move to Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2007.
Julio Baptista
Sevilla 2003-2005, Arsenal 2006-2007
With Sevilla: 63 Appearances, 38 Goals With Arsenal: 35 Appearances, 10 Goals
Julio Baptista spend two seasons at Sevilla scoring 38 times in 63 games, and was linked with a move to Arsenal in 2005 only to be unveiled by Spanish giants Real Madrid. He finally did join Arsenal in 2006 as part of the loan deal that saw Reyes join Real and scored 10 times in 35 appearances for the Gunners, including a fantastic foursome to defeat Liverpool during the Club’s run to the Carling Cup Final.
Davor Suker
Sevilla 1991-96, Arsenal 1999-00
With Sevilla: 153 Appearances, 76 Goals With Arsenal: 39 Appearances, 11 Goals
Signed by Arsène Wenger in 1999 from Real Madrid, Croatian legend Suker played just one season for the Gunners. His time at the Club came towards the end of his glittering career and he scored eight times in 22 appearances. In Spain he scored twice on his Sevilla debut and in the subsequent five years he earned praise across the globe as one of the finest strikers of the time.
Lauren
Sevilla 'B' 1997-1997, Arsenal 2000-2007
With Sevilla 'B': 17 Appearances, 3 Goals With Arsenal: 241 Appearances, 9 Goals
Raised in Sevilla, Lauren played in their ‘B’ team for one year at the age of 19. He played 17 times, scoring three goals, before a move to Levante and then Mallorca from who Arsenal signed him in 2000. He made an instant impact scoring eight minutes into his Highbury debut against Liverpool. The Cameroonian went on to play 241 times for Arsenal, scoring nine times.
Josè Antonio Reyes
Sevilla 1999-2004, Arsenal 2004-2007
With Sevilla: 95 Appearances, 25 Goals With Arsenal: 110 Appearances, 23 Goals
Reyes joined Sevilla aged 10 and remained there until his big-money transfer to Arsenal in January 2004. He was a popular figure having been born and raised in the city and his reputation as a versatile forward attracted interest from all over. Reyes made an early impact at Arsenal with two goals to knock Chelsea out the FA Cup. He left Arsenal less than two years after joining and spent one year on loan at Real Madrid before securing a move to Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2007.
Julio Baptista
Sevilla 2003-2005, Arsenal 2006-2007
With Sevilla: 63 Appearances, 38 Goals With Arsenal: 35 Appearances, 10 Goals
Julio Baptista spend two seasons at Sevilla scoring 38 times in 63 games, and was linked with a move to Arsenal in 2005 only to be unveiled by Spanish giants Real Madrid. He finally did join Arsenal in 2006 as part of the loan deal that saw Reyes join Real and scored 10 times in 35 appearances for the Gunners, including a fantastic foursome to defeat Liverpool during the Club’s run to the Carling Cup Final.
Usmanov increases stake in Arsenal
Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov has increased his stake in Arsenal to 21 percent, to become the second largest shareholder in the English Premier League club.
A brief announcement following the purchase at the London stock exchange gave no indication of Usmanov's future intentions toward the London club.
Usmanov, who formed Red and White Holdings with investor Farhad Moshiri to buy shares in Arsenal, acquired a 14.65 percent holding in August from the club's former vice chairman, David Dein.
The company is now the second-highest shareholder behind Danny Fiszman, who holds a 24 percent stake.
Dein left Arsenal in April after differences with the board over investment possibilities.
The long time friend of manager Arsene Wenger then joined forced with Usmanov, and is chairman of Red and White Holdings.
Not for sale..until April
The remaining board members, led by longtime chairman Peter Hill-Wood, have said they have no intention of selling their stakes.
They signed an undertaking to keep hold of their shares at least until April.
Usmanov's business interests in Russia include mining, telecoms and natural gas and was ranked 278th in Forbes magazine's list of the world's richest people in 2006.
He also recently purchased a private box at Arsenal's Emirates stadium.
Usmanov paid $16,457 per share, valuing the club at about $996 million, but a figure not including the debt incurred in building the club's new stadium.
The 60,000-seat stadium generates about $5.98 million per match from ticket sales, corporate hospitality and merchandising.
A brief announcement following the purchase at the London stock exchange gave no indication of Usmanov's future intentions toward the London club.
Usmanov, who formed Red and White Holdings with investor Farhad Moshiri to buy shares in Arsenal, acquired a 14.65 percent holding in August from the club's former vice chairman, David Dein.
The company is now the second-highest shareholder behind Danny Fiszman, who holds a 24 percent stake.
Dein left Arsenal in April after differences with the board over investment possibilities.
The long time friend of manager Arsene Wenger then joined forced with Usmanov, and is chairman of Red and White Holdings.
Not for sale..until April
The remaining board members, led by longtime chairman Peter Hill-Wood, have said they have no intention of selling their stakes.
They signed an undertaking to keep hold of their shares at least until April.
Usmanov's business interests in Russia include mining, telecoms and natural gas and was ranked 278th in Forbes magazine's list of the world's richest people in 2006.
He also recently purchased a private box at Arsenal's Emirates stadium.
Usmanov paid $16,457 per share, valuing the club at about $996 million, but a figure not including the debt incurred in building the club's new stadium.
The 60,000-seat stadium generates about $5.98 million per match from ticket sales, corporate hospitality and merchandising.
Arsenal win jeopardises Martin Jol
The gleeful Arsenal contingent chorused “you’re getting sacked in the morning” at Martin Jol, before remembering to salute their own team for going top of the table after yet another success against their north London rivals.
Suggestions of the Spurs manager’s imminent demise may be a little premature, with Seville’s Juande Ramos headed for the Emirates instead for a Champions League tie on Wednesday, but Jol is undoubtedly on shakier ground than ever after nine successive failures to beat the old enemy.
His instructions this season, after two fifth places, were to finish ahead of Arsenal, and qualify for the cash cow that is the Champions League, but already it seems a forlorn mission after four defeats in the first six league games. Tottenham possess a meagre four points from a possible 24, and as one disgruntled fan said as he headed for the exit: “That works out at about £10m a point.”
Jol did indeed spend another £40m on new players during the summer, after which Spurs’ start is not so much disappointing as downright dismal. Their afternoon was summed up when the striker who cost a club record £16.5m, Darren Bent, spurned an open goal that would have made it 2-2.
To the continued vexation of the board at White Hart Lane, Arsenal were clearly the better team, constructed the better chances and had the best player on view in the ever-improving Cesc Fabregas, who embellished his man of the match performance with a stunning goal from 30 yards. Spurs last won a north London derby under George Graham’s management, and have now failed in 19 attempts.
They had high hopes of ending that run yesterday, and threatened to do so when Gareth Bale put them ahead in the 15th minute, but yet again they threw away a winning position. As one ex-player said afterwards: “You wouldn’t trust this lot to walk your dog – they can’t hold on to a lead.”
After Bale had embarrassed Manuel Almunia with a 25-yard free kick that crept inside the goalkeeper’s right-hand post, Fabregas set about a classy afternoon’s work with a defence-splitting through-pass that led to a strong drive from Alexandr Hleb. Paul Robinson did well to block it, but could not hold the ball which ran to Robin Van Persie for a follow-up shot only inches wide.
Fabregas cleverly bisected Spurs’ centre-halves again midway through the first half, only for Robinson to deny Arsenal again, this time with a well-timed advance at the feet of Emmanuel Adebayor. The keeper was helpless, however, when Abou Diaby, set up by Hleb, belted the ball hurriedly against the crossbar when he had the time and space to pick his spot.
Reprieved, Spurs were still in front at half-time and should have doubled the margin five minutes after the interval when Dimitar Berbatov rounded Almunia, but then ran into Kolo Touré’s desperate recovery tackle. For the first, and by no means the last time, Jol held his head in disbelief. Trying to walk the ball into the net was not Arsenal’s exclusive preserve.
Adebayor ought to have equalised when Bacary Sagna drove to the byline on the right and cut the ball back to Adebayor, who scooped wastefully over from near the penalty spot. Spurs thought they should have had a penalty after 54 minutes, when Robinson claimed the ball and took out Adebayor at the same time, but Mark Clattenburg, who had an excellent match, waved their appeals away.
With Arsenal increasingly assertive and always dangerous on the break, it came as no surprise when equality was restored after 65 minutes, Abebayor beating Robinson to a left-wing free kick from Fabregas.
The equalising goal broke Spurs’ brittle confidence. Berbatov might have mended it but, after having a shot blocked on the line by Gael Clichy, he headed the rebound over, and in the 80th minute Arsenal deservedly completed the transformation from deficit to profit with Fabregas’ fifth goal of the season. “Now, he can’t stop scoring”, Wenger said. “Before, he couldn’t score at all. That shows how much of it is in the head.”
Bent, on for Steed Malbranque, was guilty of his ghastly miss, shooting wide when one-on-one with Almunia, and as the game went into stoppage time Adebayor fuelled Tottenham’s distress by thumping the ball home from the 18-yard line after Robinson had repelled a shot from Fabregas.
Arsenal turn their attention to Seville’s visit, for which Philippe Senderos will be back, enabling Gilberto to revert to midfield. Spurs and their board are left to consider Jol’s uncertain future. “The chairman always says he’s behind me”, the Dutchman said. “It’s you people in the press who put me under pressure. I don’t take it seriously.” Looking at the table, it’s high time he did.
Star man: Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal)
Player ratings: Tottenham: Robinson 6, Chimbonda 7, Dawson 6, Kaboul 6, Lee 5, Malbranque 5 (Bent 82min), Huddlestone 6, Jenas 5, Bale 6 (Lennon 69min), Berbatov 5, Keane 5
Arsenal: Almunia 5, Sagna 6, Toure 6, Gilberto 6, Clichy 6, Hleb 6 (Song Billong 90min), Fabregas 8, Flamini 6, Diaby 4 (Rosicky 56min, 5), Adebayor 6, Van Persie 6 (Denilson 85min) Star man: Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal)
Suggestions of the Spurs manager’s imminent demise may be a little premature, with Seville’s Juande Ramos headed for the Emirates instead for a Champions League tie on Wednesday, but Jol is undoubtedly on shakier ground than ever after nine successive failures to beat the old enemy.
His instructions this season, after two fifth places, were to finish ahead of Arsenal, and qualify for the cash cow that is the Champions League, but already it seems a forlorn mission after four defeats in the first six league games. Tottenham possess a meagre four points from a possible 24, and as one disgruntled fan said as he headed for the exit: “That works out at about £10m a point.”
Jol did indeed spend another £40m on new players during the summer, after which Spurs’ start is not so much disappointing as downright dismal. Their afternoon was summed up when the striker who cost a club record £16.5m, Darren Bent, spurned an open goal that would have made it 2-2.
To the continued vexation of the board at White Hart Lane, Arsenal were clearly the better team, constructed the better chances and had the best player on view in the ever-improving Cesc Fabregas, who embellished his man of the match performance with a stunning goal from 30 yards. Spurs last won a north London derby under George Graham’s management, and have now failed in 19 attempts.
They had high hopes of ending that run yesterday, and threatened to do so when Gareth Bale put them ahead in the 15th minute, but yet again they threw away a winning position. As one ex-player said afterwards: “You wouldn’t trust this lot to walk your dog – they can’t hold on to a lead.”
After Bale had embarrassed Manuel Almunia with a 25-yard free kick that crept inside the goalkeeper’s right-hand post, Fabregas set about a classy afternoon’s work with a defence-splitting through-pass that led to a strong drive from Alexandr Hleb. Paul Robinson did well to block it, but could not hold the ball which ran to Robin Van Persie for a follow-up shot only inches wide.
Fabregas cleverly bisected Spurs’ centre-halves again midway through the first half, only for Robinson to deny Arsenal again, this time with a well-timed advance at the feet of Emmanuel Adebayor. The keeper was helpless, however, when Abou Diaby, set up by Hleb, belted the ball hurriedly against the crossbar when he had the time and space to pick his spot.
Reprieved, Spurs were still in front at half-time and should have doubled the margin five minutes after the interval when Dimitar Berbatov rounded Almunia, but then ran into Kolo Touré’s desperate recovery tackle. For the first, and by no means the last time, Jol held his head in disbelief. Trying to walk the ball into the net was not Arsenal’s exclusive preserve.
Adebayor ought to have equalised when Bacary Sagna drove to the byline on the right and cut the ball back to Adebayor, who scooped wastefully over from near the penalty spot. Spurs thought they should have had a penalty after 54 minutes, when Robinson claimed the ball and took out Adebayor at the same time, but Mark Clattenburg, who had an excellent match, waved their appeals away.
With Arsenal increasingly assertive and always dangerous on the break, it came as no surprise when equality was restored after 65 minutes, Abebayor beating Robinson to a left-wing free kick from Fabregas.
The equalising goal broke Spurs’ brittle confidence. Berbatov might have mended it but, after having a shot blocked on the line by Gael Clichy, he headed the rebound over, and in the 80th minute Arsenal deservedly completed the transformation from deficit to profit with Fabregas’ fifth goal of the season. “Now, he can’t stop scoring”, Wenger said. “Before, he couldn’t score at all. That shows how much of it is in the head.”
Bent, on for Steed Malbranque, was guilty of his ghastly miss, shooting wide when one-on-one with Almunia, and as the game went into stoppage time Adebayor fuelled Tottenham’s distress by thumping the ball home from the 18-yard line after Robinson had repelled a shot from Fabregas.
Arsenal turn their attention to Seville’s visit, for which Philippe Senderos will be back, enabling Gilberto to revert to midfield. Spurs and their board are left to consider Jol’s uncertain future. “The chairman always says he’s behind me”, the Dutchman said. “It’s you people in the press who put me under pressure. I don’t take it seriously.” Looking at the table, it’s high time he did.
Star man: Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal)
Player ratings: Tottenham: Robinson 6, Chimbonda 7, Dawson 6, Kaboul 6, Lee 5, Malbranque 5 (Bent 82min), Huddlestone 6, Jenas 5, Bale 6 (Lennon 69min), Berbatov 5, Keane 5
Arsenal: Almunia 5, Sagna 6, Toure 6, Gilberto 6, Clichy 6, Hleb 6 (Song Billong 90min), Fabregas 8, Flamini 6, Diaby 4 (Rosicky 56min, 5), Adebayor 6, Van Persie 6 (Denilson 85min) Star man: Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal)
Salute to a hero
Newcomers to the Champions League are obliged to spruce themselves up. Men from Uefa arrive at their stadiums, check the size of the corporate boxes, the space for outside broadcast units, the presentability of the arena. When they come to Sevilla, they find graffiti, miles of it. To walk around the Stadio Sanchez Pizjuan is to see no piece of unmarked white wall below the height a man might reach with a marker pen.
The messages number several thousand and are all dedicated to a 22-year-old footballer, Antonio Puerta, who lost his life following a cardiac arrest during Sevilla’s first match of the Spanish league season three weekends ago. Puerta was not the club’s most brilliant player, but he was good enough to have played for his country and so close to the heart of his club that his story until his death might have been dreamt up as a script to motivate every Andalucian schoolboy. Barely 500 yards from the stadium is the supporters’ bar founded by Puerta’s grandfather, where they keep the jersey Puerta wore on the night he scored the goal that took Sevilla to a Uefa Cup final. Elsewhere in the city, his partner carries their unborn child.
Tonight, Puerta’s teammates play for the first time at their home ground since his passing and the mourners will congregate in their tens of thousands. Tomorrow, a mass will be held in the cathedral in Puerta’s memory. No deadline can be set on the process of grieving and it is with some delicacy that those in charge of Sevilla address the business of moving on. Puerta had been part of a team with extraordinary momentum, a club that was in Spain’s second division when he was graduating from their youth sections six years ago, and who in the past 18 months collected two Uefa Cups, one Spanish Cup, Super Cups in Spain and Europe and who in June took their pursuit of a league title to the final evening of the domestic season. Puerta’s tragedy is now yoked to that story. “We all want to be able to dedicate more achievements to Antonio Puerta,” says the club president, Jose Maria del Nido, “and I see a group of players professional enough, and mentally strong enough, to continue being competitive so in some ways this can make us even stronger.”
Del Nido had been busy in the days ahead of the tragedy preserving Sevilla’s momentum in more mundane ways, bucking the trend that says every rapid riser in the game will succumb to the predators. In Sevilla’s case, the people eyeing up their assets came from London. Sustained interest from Chelsea in the Brazilian right-back Dani Alves created one of the transfer market’s more expensive auctions, with Del Nido holding out for an asking price close to £20m. Real Madrid joined the bidding, but Alves, against his vehemently expressed wishes, remains a Sevilla player, and now a participating one. He had briefly declined to join the squad in the aftermath of Chelsea’s withdrawal of interest.
Alves and his president are not on the best of terms, it can safely be reported. “It is bound to be hard to keep together a squad that has won everything that we have,” says Del Nido, rather pursed, “and there have been lots of clubs who want some of our people or players. We are strong enough financially, and strong enough as a team to keep these important figures and to keep finding more of them.”
Last week, the president introduced the club’s record signing ? at nearly £10m from PSV Eindhoven ? the Ivorian striker, Arouna Kone. Last month, he was fending off interest from Tottenham in the club’s head coach, Juande Ramos, after which Del Nido challenged him, announcing publicly that the coach had assured the president of his commitment until at least the end of the season. Like Dani Alves, Ramos remained, under improved terms, and will do for a long time, insists Del Nido. “He’s a fantastic coach, absolutely at the top level in Europe. He has a lot of ambition and that fits in with what we are looking for.” The president was anxious to add that the marriage of coach and club had been mutually beneficial. Ramos had worked at nine different Spanish clubs when Del Nido hired him in 2005, and at none of them had his reputation soared in the way it has at Sevilla. “He would say he hasn’t had this quality of squad before in his career,” says del Nido, “and the players have, of course, responded well to his way of working.” Ramos’s way of working is becoming better known. Arsène Wenger, whose Arsenal face Sevilla in Group H of the Champions League on Wednesday in London, renewed acquaintance with Ramos at a conference last week, and describes a man with “that ability to get the maximum out of a player. I’ve heard they work a lot psychologically and it looks to me that he has brought to Sevilla a rigorous type of play, very disciplined, and he’s brought in a very physical side as well.”
Wenger highlights the role of centre-forward Frederic Kanoute, once of Spurs and West Ham United and among the leading goalscorers in Spain last season. “Their game is based on Kanoute. They give it to him and the rest join in very quickly, like Alves and Jesus Navas on the right side. They also have a big squad.” Big enough for a heavy fixture load. Since Sevilla overwhelmed Middlesbrough in the final of the 2006 Uefa Cup, they have added strikers Kone and the Russian Alexander Kerzhakov; Italian goalkeeper Morgan de Sanctis; defenders Andreas Hinkel and Aquivaldo Mosquera, and midfielders Tom de Mul, and Seydou Keita, all internationals.
“What Sevilla have done very well recently is buy,” adds Wenger, “with the players from Brazil [Alves, Adriano, Renato and Luis Fabiano] and with Kanoute who has done very well.” Del Nido will take that asa compliment. He has done some good business with Arsenal with the lucrative sale of Jose Antonio Reyes three years ago. He intends to keep selling wisely and buying well. “We are going into the Champions League,” he says, “with the right amount of humility, but we want to establish a place among the big teams in Europe. I don’t think anybody will find us easy to play against.”
The messages number several thousand and are all dedicated to a 22-year-old footballer, Antonio Puerta, who lost his life following a cardiac arrest during Sevilla’s first match of the Spanish league season three weekends ago. Puerta was not the club’s most brilliant player, but he was good enough to have played for his country and so close to the heart of his club that his story until his death might have been dreamt up as a script to motivate every Andalucian schoolboy. Barely 500 yards from the stadium is the supporters’ bar founded by Puerta’s grandfather, where they keep the jersey Puerta wore on the night he scored the goal that took Sevilla to a Uefa Cup final. Elsewhere in the city, his partner carries their unborn child.
Tonight, Puerta’s teammates play for the first time at their home ground since his passing and the mourners will congregate in their tens of thousands. Tomorrow, a mass will be held in the cathedral in Puerta’s memory. No deadline can be set on the process of grieving and it is with some delicacy that those in charge of Sevilla address the business of moving on. Puerta had been part of a team with extraordinary momentum, a club that was in Spain’s second division when he was graduating from their youth sections six years ago, and who in the past 18 months collected two Uefa Cups, one Spanish Cup, Super Cups in Spain and Europe and who in June took their pursuit of a league title to the final evening of the domestic season. Puerta’s tragedy is now yoked to that story. “We all want to be able to dedicate more achievements to Antonio Puerta,” says the club president, Jose Maria del Nido, “and I see a group of players professional enough, and mentally strong enough, to continue being competitive so in some ways this can make us even stronger.”
Del Nido had been busy in the days ahead of the tragedy preserving Sevilla’s momentum in more mundane ways, bucking the trend that says every rapid riser in the game will succumb to the predators. In Sevilla’s case, the people eyeing up their assets came from London. Sustained interest from Chelsea in the Brazilian right-back Dani Alves created one of the transfer market’s more expensive auctions, with Del Nido holding out for an asking price close to £20m. Real Madrid joined the bidding, but Alves, against his vehemently expressed wishes, remains a Sevilla player, and now a participating one. He had briefly declined to join the squad in the aftermath of Chelsea’s withdrawal of interest.
Alves and his president are not on the best of terms, it can safely be reported. “It is bound to be hard to keep together a squad that has won everything that we have,” says Del Nido, rather pursed, “and there have been lots of clubs who want some of our people or players. We are strong enough financially, and strong enough as a team to keep these important figures and to keep finding more of them.”
Last week, the president introduced the club’s record signing ? at nearly £10m from PSV Eindhoven ? the Ivorian striker, Arouna Kone. Last month, he was fending off interest from Tottenham in the club’s head coach, Juande Ramos, after which Del Nido challenged him, announcing publicly that the coach had assured the president of his commitment until at least the end of the season. Like Dani Alves, Ramos remained, under improved terms, and will do for a long time, insists Del Nido. “He’s a fantastic coach, absolutely at the top level in Europe. He has a lot of ambition and that fits in with what we are looking for.” The president was anxious to add that the marriage of coach and club had been mutually beneficial. Ramos had worked at nine different Spanish clubs when Del Nido hired him in 2005, and at none of them had his reputation soared in the way it has at Sevilla. “He would say he hasn’t had this quality of squad before in his career,” says del Nido, “and the players have, of course, responded well to his way of working.” Ramos’s way of working is becoming better known. Arsène Wenger, whose Arsenal face Sevilla in Group H of the Champions League on Wednesday in London, renewed acquaintance with Ramos at a conference last week, and describes a man with “that ability to get the maximum out of a player. I’ve heard they work a lot psychologically and it looks to me that he has brought to Sevilla a rigorous type of play, very disciplined, and he’s brought in a very physical side as well.”
Wenger highlights the role of centre-forward Frederic Kanoute, once of Spurs and West Ham United and among the leading goalscorers in Spain last season. “Their game is based on Kanoute. They give it to him and the rest join in very quickly, like Alves and Jesus Navas on the right side. They also have a big squad.” Big enough for a heavy fixture load. Since Sevilla overwhelmed Middlesbrough in the final of the 2006 Uefa Cup, they have added strikers Kone and the Russian Alexander Kerzhakov; Italian goalkeeper Morgan de Sanctis; defenders Andreas Hinkel and Aquivaldo Mosquera, and midfielders Tom de Mul, and Seydou Keita, all internationals.
“What Sevilla have done very well recently is buy,” adds Wenger, “with the players from Brazil [Alves, Adriano, Renato and Luis Fabiano] and with Kanoute who has done very well.” Del Nido will take that asa compliment. He has done some good business with Arsenal with the lucrative sale of Jose Antonio Reyes three years ago. He intends to keep selling wisely and buying well. “We are going into the Champions League,” he says, “with the right amount of humility, but we want to establish a place among the big teams in Europe. I don’t think anybody will find us easy to play against.”
Cesc Fabregas and Co get ahead of schedule
In a variant on Alan Hansen’s immortal words, one of Arsène Wenger’s favourite refrains concerns young players not knowing how good they are, but those closest to him seem intent on proving him wrong.
After Arsenal moved to the top of the table for the first time in almost three years, the players’ self-belief is soaring. With Chelsea and Manchester United struggling for goals and Liverpool struggling to understand their manager, there appears to be no reason why they cannot stay there.
Even Wenger allowed himself to consider that possibility after this magnificent comeback, as evidence mounts that his young players are ready to translate potential into prizes. In keeping with a man who believes in being endlessly creative, Wenger saw fit to invent a new word, which he feels describes his team’s heady mix of innocence and idealism.
“I’m very excited with this team because - I don’t know if the word exists – they are ‘playerish’,” he said. “They love to play and that is something that you feel from the outside. They’re ahead of schedule and have a certain tactical and technical maturity.
“They just love to play. Even at 2-1 they don’t go to the corner flag, they continue to try to score. There is an extra dynamic in there because the players feel this is the year in which they have to grow old.”
Arsenal’s joie de vivre is enough to make even the most cynical old on-looker feel young again, while they are eradicating the weaknesses that caused them to drop out of the title race almost before it began last season. No longer easily kicked off the park, Wenger’s team are showing an increasing willingness to accept scruffy goals to supplement the spectacular, with stunning late strikes by Cesc Fàbregas and Emmanuel Adebayor balanced by a close-range header by the Togo striker in the 65th minute.
Another important departure is the happy habit they have developed of scoring late on, with eight of their 15 goals this season coming in the last ten minutes. “The boss has told us that in every single game we can score in the 90th or 91st minute,” Adebayor, whose spectacular volley was the last kick of a pulsating match, said. “If we’re 1-0 down, in one minute we can score two goals.”
The most significant development is the absence of stars in a team dripping with star quality, with Thierry Henry’s summer departure to Barcelona liberating his former teammates. As a close friend of the France striker, Adebayor said that Arsenal would have won “4-1 or 5-1” with Henry in their ranks, but Fàbregas offered a greater insight. The Spain midfield player passed his goal tally of four from last season with the 30-yard drive that gave his team the lead in the 80th minute, while the fact that Adebayor has three goals and three other players have scored twice in a handful of games indicates the emergence of greater collective responsibility.
“Thierry was an important player, but now he’s gone we have to play more as a team,” Fàbregas said. “We’re playing more collectively, more as a team, and this is important. We lost a lot of points at the beginning of last season and it was too difficult to come back. We have to keep winning.”
In emerging as an early favourite to win the Footballer of the Year award, Fàbregas has replaced Henry as the player Arsenal cannot do without, with the lack of depth in Wenger’s squad likely to be the main obstacle to a sustained championship challenge. Manuel Almunia did not impress in the absence of Jens Lehmann, being beaten at his near post by a free kick by Gareth Bale as Tottenham Hotspur took an early lead and haring off his line to present Dimitar Berbatov with a golden opportunity to put Spurs 2-0 up only for the striker to miss.
Tottenham created several other chances to expose the weakness at the heart of the Arsenal defence, with Gilberto Silva’s lack of pace making him little more than an emergency centre back, although he is preferable to Phillipe Senderos in the absence of William Gallas.
Wenger believes that there is room for improvement, although with Arsenal’s next four matches against Derby County, West Ham United, Sunderland and Bolton Wanderers, they could remain at the summit for some time.
How they rated
Tottenham 1 Bale 15
4-4-2 P Robinson 6 P Chimbonda Y 6 M Dawson 5 Y Kaboul 7 Lee Young Pyo 5 S Malbranque 5 T Huddlestone 7 J Jenas Y 6 G Bale 6 D Berbatov 6 R Keane 6 Substitutes A Lennon 6 (for Bale, 69min), D Bent (for Malbranque, 82) Not used R Cerny, D Zokora, R Rocha
Arsenal 3 Adebayor 65, 90, Fàbregas 80
4-4-2 M Almunia 5 B Sagna Y 6 K Touré 6 Gilberto Silva 6 G Clichy 6 A Hleb Y 7 F Fàbregas 8 M Flamini 6 A Diaby 6 E Adebayor 8 R van Persie 7 Substitutes T Rosicky 6 (for Diaby, 56), Denilson (for Van Persie, 85), A Song (for Hleb, 90) Not used L Fabianski, T Walcott
Referee M Clattenburg
Attendance 36,053
After Arsenal moved to the top of the table for the first time in almost three years, the players’ self-belief is soaring. With Chelsea and Manchester United struggling for goals and Liverpool struggling to understand their manager, there appears to be no reason why they cannot stay there.
Even Wenger allowed himself to consider that possibility after this magnificent comeback, as evidence mounts that his young players are ready to translate potential into prizes. In keeping with a man who believes in being endlessly creative, Wenger saw fit to invent a new word, which he feels describes his team’s heady mix of innocence and idealism.
“I’m very excited with this team because - I don’t know if the word exists – they are ‘playerish’,” he said. “They love to play and that is something that you feel from the outside. They’re ahead of schedule and have a certain tactical and technical maturity.
“They just love to play. Even at 2-1 they don’t go to the corner flag, they continue to try to score. There is an extra dynamic in there because the players feel this is the year in which they have to grow old.”
Arsenal’s joie de vivre is enough to make even the most cynical old on-looker feel young again, while they are eradicating the weaknesses that caused them to drop out of the title race almost before it began last season. No longer easily kicked off the park, Wenger’s team are showing an increasing willingness to accept scruffy goals to supplement the spectacular, with stunning late strikes by Cesc Fàbregas and Emmanuel Adebayor balanced by a close-range header by the Togo striker in the 65th minute.
Another important departure is the happy habit they have developed of scoring late on, with eight of their 15 goals this season coming in the last ten minutes. “The boss has told us that in every single game we can score in the 90th or 91st minute,” Adebayor, whose spectacular volley was the last kick of a pulsating match, said. “If we’re 1-0 down, in one minute we can score two goals.”
The most significant development is the absence of stars in a team dripping with star quality, with Thierry Henry’s summer departure to Barcelona liberating his former teammates. As a close friend of the France striker, Adebayor said that Arsenal would have won “4-1 or 5-1” with Henry in their ranks, but Fàbregas offered a greater insight. The Spain midfield player passed his goal tally of four from last season with the 30-yard drive that gave his team the lead in the 80th minute, while the fact that Adebayor has three goals and three other players have scored twice in a handful of games indicates the emergence of greater collective responsibility.
“Thierry was an important player, but now he’s gone we have to play more as a team,” Fàbregas said. “We’re playing more collectively, more as a team, and this is important. We lost a lot of points at the beginning of last season and it was too difficult to come back. We have to keep winning.”
In emerging as an early favourite to win the Footballer of the Year award, Fàbregas has replaced Henry as the player Arsenal cannot do without, with the lack of depth in Wenger’s squad likely to be the main obstacle to a sustained championship challenge. Manuel Almunia did not impress in the absence of Jens Lehmann, being beaten at his near post by a free kick by Gareth Bale as Tottenham Hotspur took an early lead and haring off his line to present Dimitar Berbatov with a golden opportunity to put Spurs 2-0 up only for the striker to miss.
Tottenham created several other chances to expose the weakness at the heart of the Arsenal defence, with Gilberto Silva’s lack of pace making him little more than an emergency centre back, although he is preferable to Phillipe Senderos in the absence of William Gallas.
Wenger believes that there is room for improvement, although with Arsenal’s next four matches against Derby County, West Ham United, Sunderland and Bolton Wanderers, they could remain at the summit for some time.
How they rated
Tottenham 1 Bale 15
4-4-2 P Robinson 6 P Chimbonda Y 6 M Dawson 5 Y Kaboul 7 Lee Young Pyo 5 S Malbranque 5 T Huddlestone 7 J Jenas Y 6 G Bale 6 D Berbatov 6 R Keane 6 Substitutes A Lennon 6 (for Bale, 69min), D Bent (for Malbranque, 82) Not used R Cerny, D Zokora, R Rocha
Arsenal 3 Adebayor 65, 90, Fàbregas 80
4-4-2 M Almunia 5 B Sagna Y 6 K Touré 6 Gilberto Silva 6 G Clichy 6 A Hleb Y 7 F Fàbregas 8 M Flamini 6 A Diaby 6 E Adebayor 8 R van Persie 7 Substitutes T Rosicky 6 (for Diaby, 56), Denilson (for Van Persie, 85), A Song (for Hleb, 90) Not used L Fabianski, T Walcott
Referee M Clattenburg
Attendance 36,053
Tragedy leaves Juande Ramos in determined mood
What is it with managers? They always seem to be in total control of whatever situation on or off the pitch. Even when they lose it, they seem to be doing it on purpose and only to gain some advantage.
The death of one of your players puts all that into sharp focus, of course. Three years ago, José Antonio Camacho walked off the pitch crying when he realised that Miki Fehér had collapsed and died while playing for his Benfica team.
Antonio Puerta, of Seville, fainted on the grass on August 25 this year but walked to the changing-rooms, where he collapsed again and fell into a coma. He died three days later. There were private tears cried by Juande Ramos, the coach, when he found out what was going on, but publicly he has been the face of serene sadness. And the first instigator of what seems to be the best solution for these extreme situations is the quick recuperation of normality, of routine.
“The show must go on,” he has been heard saying. Straight after his best season as a manager (Uefa Cup and Spanish Cup winners, fighting to the end for the Spanish title), he lived the most difficult time as a professional, as a person, as a leader.
“It is true that, in a very short period of time, many unexpected things have happened and we have dealt with them one by one as we could,” he said. “It has been a very short pre-season, with a very dense calendar, and instead of friendlies we have had dramatic finals – two legs of the Spanish Super Cup where we beat Real Madrid, the European Super Cup that we lost to [AC] Milan, the qualifiers of the Champions League. Thank God we have had excellent results.
“But, in the middle of all that, there was also the face of disaster, the death of Antonio, one of our very important players, born in Sevilla and a huge Sevilla fan, a young guy that was essential to the group dynamic. We were all hit by something huge and we would have swapped a bit of his life for all the titles, for any reward, for anything. We have to overcome that and we are in the process of it. Getting to the group stages has taken a weight off our shoulders because we got an important prize to dedicate to him.
“All we could do is to continue playing for him and the group has got the message. That is the closest I can to put into words all the feelings we went through, some of which I cannot even comprehend.”
There was also the interest from Tottenham Hotspur and the famous meeting in a Seville hotel. “I lived through those days with the normality required,” Ramos said. “I mean, [Frédéric] Kanouté, [Ivica] Dragutinovic, [Daniel] Alvés, they all had interest from different teams and the same happens with coaches.”
The more he thinks about it the more he realises that his style would suit the Barclays Premier League. “I almost renewed my contract with Sevilla, but now we have left it to the end of the season,” he said. “I will then talk again to my club. The main thing is to continue respecting the group and the style that has taken us here. We have a clear philosophy and teams know how we play - we go for the victory from minute one. A bit like Arsenal.”
Seville and Arsenal certainly play in the same way but only one team have spent nine consecutive years in the Champions League while the other are making their debut.
“I have seen what Arsène Wenger has said about us being one of the top teams in Europe, but we are not,” Ramos, whose team take on Arsenal in a group H match at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday, said. “We are just starting. Arsenal are the favour-ites to win the group and to go far. We will try to qualify to the next round and see match by match how far we can go. And then we will go home to pray for Antonio.”
For the full interview, see Revista De La Liga, Sky Sports 2, 6pm tomorrow
The death of one of your players puts all that into sharp focus, of course. Three years ago, José Antonio Camacho walked off the pitch crying when he realised that Miki Fehér had collapsed and died while playing for his Benfica team.
Antonio Puerta, of Seville, fainted on the grass on August 25 this year but walked to the changing-rooms, where he collapsed again and fell into a coma. He died three days later. There were private tears cried by Juande Ramos, the coach, when he found out what was going on, but publicly he has been the face of serene sadness. And the first instigator of what seems to be the best solution for these extreme situations is the quick recuperation of normality, of routine.
“The show must go on,” he has been heard saying. Straight after his best season as a manager (Uefa Cup and Spanish Cup winners, fighting to the end for the Spanish title), he lived the most difficult time as a professional, as a person, as a leader.
“It is true that, in a very short period of time, many unexpected things have happened and we have dealt with them one by one as we could,” he said. “It has been a very short pre-season, with a very dense calendar, and instead of friendlies we have had dramatic finals – two legs of the Spanish Super Cup where we beat Real Madrid, the European Super Cup that we lost to [AC] Milan, the qualifiers of the Champions League. Thank God we have had excellent results.
“But, in the middle of all that, there was also the face of disaster, the death of Antonio, one of our very important players, born in Sevilla and a huge Sevilla fan, a young guy that was essential to the group dynamic. We were all hit by something huge and we would have swapped a bit of his life for all the titles, for any reward, for anything. We have to overcome that and we are in the process of it. Getting to the group stages has taken a weight off our shoulders because we got an important prize to dedicate to him.
“All we could do is to continue playing for him and the group has got the message. That is the closest I can to put into words all the feelings we went through, some of which I cannot even comprehend.”
There was also the interest from Tottenham Hotspur and the famous meeting in a Seville hotel. “I lived through those days with the normality required,” Ramos said. “I mean, [Frédéric] Kanouté, [Ivica] Dragutinovic, [Daniel] Alvés, they all had interest from different teams and the same happens with coaches.”
The more he thinks about it the more he realises that his style would suit the Barclays Premier League. “I almost renewed my contract with Sevilla, but now we have left it to the end of the season,” he said. “I will then talk again to my club. The main thing is to continue respecting the group and the style that has taken us here. We have a clear philosophy and teams know how we play - we go for the victory from minute one. A bit like Arsenal.”
Seville and Arsenal certainly play in the same way but only one team have spent nine consecutive years in the Champions League while the other are making their debut.
“I have seen what Arsène Wenger has said about us being one of the top teams in Europe, but we are not,” Ramos, whose team take on Arsenal in a group H match at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday, said. “We are just starting. Arsenal are the favour-ites to win the group and to go far. We will try to qualify to the next round and see match by match how far we can go. And then we will go home to pray for Antonio.”
For the full interview, see Revista De La Liga, Sky Sports 2, 6pm tomorrow
Jens Lehmann determined to defy pain
Jens Lehmann has given Arsène Wenger a selection problem by declaring himself fit for tomorrow’s Champions League group H opening match against Seville. The Germany goalkeeper is still suffering from soreness in his elbow, but insists he can play through the pain to take his place against the Spaniards.
Lehmann is concerned that missing a Champions League match will see him fall farther behind Manuel Almunia, though given the nervous manner in which the Spanish goalkeeper has performed in his absence, he should not be unduly worried.
Almunia was beaten at his near post by a free kick from Gareth Bale against Tottenham Hotspur last Saturday and presented Dimitar Berbatov with an excellent opportunity to give the home side a 2-0 lead by rushing from his line to little effect.
For all his weaknesses, Wenger may still select Almunia, as he is aware that Lehmann’s elbow problem will need nurturing through a long season. The 37-year-old has not played for Arsenal since making errors against Fulham and Blackburn Rovers in the opening two Barclays Premier League matches of the season.
Eduardo will return to the squad after being rested for the North London derby, though William Gallas (groin) and Emmanuel Eboué (ankle) remain doubtful.
Lehmann is concerned that missing a Champions League match will see him fall farther behind Manuel Almunia, though given the nervous manner in which the Spanish goalkeeper has performed in his absence, he should not be unduly worried.
Almunia was beaten at his near post by a free kick from Gareth Bale against Tottenham Hotspur last Saturday and presented Dimitar Berbatov with an excellent opportunity to give the home side a 2-0 lead by rushing from his line to little effect.
For all his weaknesses, Wenger may still select Almunia, as he is aware that Lehmann’s elbow problem will need nurturing through a long season. The 37-year-old has not played for Arsenal since making errors against Fulham and Blackburn Rovers in the opening two Barclays Premier League matches of the season.
Eduardo will return to the squad after being rested for the North London derby, though William Gallas (groin) and Emmanuel Eboué (ankle) remain doubtful.
Arsenal power struggle hots up as Alisher Usamanov raises his stakes
Alisher Usmanov, the Russian businessman, has increased his shareholding in Arsenal after his investment company Red and White Holdings Limited raised their stake in the club to 21 per cent.
The purchase, which was formally announced this morning, makes Usmanov's company the club's second-largest shareholder behind Danny Fiszman, who has 24 per cent.
Usmanov, who formed the company alongside fellow investor Farhad Moshiri specifically to hold equity in the north London club, first bought into Arsenal when he paid David Dein, the former vice-chairman, around £75 million for his 14.65 per cent holding in August.
Dein left the club in April after differences with the board over investment possibilities - with American businessman Stan Kroenke's potential involvement thought to be the main sticking point. But Dein is the chairman of Red and White Holdings Ltd and looks certain to remain a key figure as the debate over Arsenal's future continues.
Arsene Wenger, the manager, however, said he was unconcerned by the power struggle. “I am responsible for the results at the club and not for the rest,” said Wenger, who earlier this month agreed a new three-year deal with the club.
“People will buy and sell shares or not want to sell shares only if a club is doing well. My job is to make sure the club does well.
Wenger, who saw Dein as one of his closest allies, added: “I am not concerned about a Russian takeover I am concerned about tomorrow’s game [against Seville at the Emirates Stadium]. It will not disrupt anything.
“As we said many times, the shares are 50 per cent inside the board and 50 per cent outside the board. That will not change anything.”
When Usmanov first emerged as an investor, he announced his intention to continue a process of accumulating shares. He said at the time: "Arsenal as a business is undervalued. My aim is to steadily increase my package because I think the value of it will grow and will soon reach a higher level. The club has everything to achieve it."
While there is sure to be speculation about the Uzbekistan launching a full-scale takeover bid, the club's current board are already on record as being opposed to such a move. Keith Edelman, the managing director, insists the club are not in need of investment and that Wenger has ample funds to spend.
Meanwhile Fiszman, who is seen as the key to any takeover bid, has also given assurances to the Arsenal Supporters' Trust that he has no intention of selling his shares.
The club release their financial results on Monday, with the move to the Emirates Stadium expected to have helped them cut the gap between themselves and Manchester United and Chelsea.
The purchase, which was formally announced this morning, makes Usmanov's company the club's second-largest shareholder behind Danny Fiszman, who has 24 per cent.
Usmanov, who formed the company alongside fellow investor Farhad Moshiri specifically to hold equity in the north London club, first bought into Arsenal when he paid David Dein, the former vice-chairman, around £75 million for his 14.65 per cent holding in August.
Dein left the club in April after differences with the board over investment possibilities - with American businessman Stan Kroenke's potential involvement thought to be the main sticking point. But Dein is the chairman of Red and White Holdings Ltd and looks certain to remain a key figure as the debate over Arsenal's future continues.
Arsene Wenger, the manager, however, said he was unconcerned by the power struggle. “I am responsible for the results at the club and not for the rest,” said Wenger, who earlier this month agreed a new three-year deal with the club.
“People will buy and sell shares or not want to sell shares only if a club is doing well. My job is to make sure the club does well.
Wenger, who saw Dein as one of his closest allies, added: “I am not concerned about a Russian takeover I am concerned about tomorrow’s game [against Seville at the Emirates Stadium]. It will not disrupt anything.
“As we said many times, the shares are 50 per cent inside the board and 50 per cent outside the board. That will not change anything.”
When Usmanov first emerged as an investor, he announced his intention to continue a process of accumulating shares. He said at the time: "Arsenal as a business is undervalued. My aim is to steadily increase my package because I think the value of it will grow and will soon reach a higher level. The club has everything to achieve it."
While there is sure to be speculation about the Uzbekistan launching a full-scale takeover bid, the club's current board are already on record as being opposed to such a move. Keith Edelman, the managing director, insists the club are not in need of investment and that Wenger has ample funds to spend.
Meanwhile Fiszman, who is seen as the key to any takeover bid, has also given assurances to the Arsenal Supporters' Trust that he has no intention of selling his shares.
The club release their financial results on Monday, with the move to the Emirates Stadium expected to have helped them cut the gap between themselves and Manchester United and Chelsea.
All-round entertainer
“My philosophy is to bring people to share something and be happy to do it. To entertain. To be the best of the best. At least that has to be your ambition. That’s part of the love and respect you show the people” – Arsène Wenger, August 2006
How many managers think like this? Did Sir Alex Ferguson talk of love like a hopeless romantic? He did not. But perhaps Arsène Wenger’s very foreignness allowed him to take cultural gambles. He could play an all-foreign team, he could utter unBritish sentences full of sentiment and emotion and still retain his dignity. And dignified he certainly is. He has a lived-in face – lively, but scoured into lines by the multitude of thought processes (90% football) that rage behind his eyes. He is charming, witty, tall, lean, intelligent and with just a touch of your old RE teacher, the one who was always knocking books off his desk. His politeness is exemplary, his strictness demonstrable.
Wenger’s arrival at Arsenal brought a revolution in playing style and an upsurge in trophies won. “We wanted to entertain. We have the responsibility to people who pay £50 or more to watch a game. They deserve to see the best of the best. At least, that has to be your ambition. In 2002 we played the football of dreams. Everybody at his peak. They had the hunger, desire, intelligence to be successful.”
The football Arsenal were producing at the start of the 2002-3 season propelled Wenger into a pronouncement he would not be allowed to forget. He said he thought it was possible for a team to play a whole season undefeated. How people scoffed. And how frustrated he became when the promise was unfulfilled. Years later, he still displays unease at the perceived injustice.
“In some games it was unfair the way we lost. At one we were kicked off the park without the referee interfering at all. I felt that we lost the title in 2003 and justice was not done.”
There was an element of ungraciousness when he maintained that Arsenal were a better team than new champions, Manchester United. When Ferguson claimed the same thing a year later, Wenger replied, “Everyone thinks he has the prettiest wife at home,” a remark that may have bamboozled Sir Alex into thinking Lady Ferguson’s looks had been brought into the argument. It was another of Wenger’s analogies that sometimes flew over the heads of their targets.
But in May 2003, as Arsenal’s form became bogged down, Wenger was nursing a sense of grievance. “Old Vinegar Face,” he was called by Ferguson. “I am not perfect, but I did not think we had been treated fairly by the referees,” Wenger said. “That is why I was not so gracious in defeat. You don’t lie down, you don’t feel sorry for yourself, you come back even stronger.
“This we did the following year, the unbeaten year. That was the biggest year of any English football team ever. To play the whole [league] season unbeaten, people don’t realise what it means. Every Saturday, every Wednesday, playing in the European Cup as well. You go home, you are tired, go to Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester . . . you cannot afford to lose one single game. We came close to losing a few times, but the closest was the first, when we played Manchester United. There was a penalty in the last minute, which was missed.”
This mention might have been mischief on Wenger’s part, the infamous game at Old Trafford resulting in disciplinary procedures against both teams for the overspilling emotion of the occasion and the fact that Arsenal’s celebration of Ruud van Nistelrooy’s penalty miss was considered ungentlemanly.
A 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford in October 2004 halted the unbeaten run at 49 matches and ended the affair with invincibility, but it was magnificent while it lasted – and as a final flourish to 2004-5, Arsenal won the FA Cup (on penalties). United were the beaten finalists.
UNDER Wenger, Arsenal have won three Premier League titles and four FA Cups, but it is a defeat that is often regarded as the climax of his career in England. Looking back to the 2006 Champions League final, which Arsenal lost 2-1 to Barcelona in Paris, he reflected: “It was the miracle of the year. For a long part of the season I had the problem of convincing my players how good they were. Because we lost Patrick Vieira, Sol [Campbell] was injured, Ashley Cole only played seven games, it was very difficult. And yet I felt we were good enough.”
There was also the problem of being short of funds, much of it being ploughed into the Emirates stadium. “Yes, but we anticipated that by bringing in good young players four, five years ago. Fabregas, Van Persie, Reyes and, more lately, Flamini, Eboue, Senderos. Not household names, but I tried to convince my players they can make a name for themselves.
“Real Madrid – the first leg away in the Champions League – was the result that convinced them. Suddenly, everybody looks at you differently. It’s strange that when you feel vulnerable, you are vulnerable. When you feel strong, you are strong. When you see the first 10 minutes, it should have been 3-0 to Arsenal. Henry’s goal was one of his greats. Ronaldo chased back on him, Thierry just shrugged him off.”
Wenger looks distant for a moment, while he replays the goal on the video recorder behind his eyes. “It was one of my greatest nights with Arsenal, because that was what we needed, but nobody expected it against the galacticos. Then we played well against Juventus at Highbury. It was great to see that what we realised against Madrid was not an accident. It was confirmation of our quality.”
The significant moment that many people identified was Vieira, now subdued in his Juve shirt, being hauled to his feet after a collision in the quarter-final first leg with a smiling Cesc Fabregas, his replacement in the Arsenal lineup. Both Wenger prodigies, but only one winner.
Both legs of the semi-final against Villarreal were disappointing. “We looked paralysed,” said Wenger. “No Arsenal team had gone this far before. The fact is, we have reached the Champions League final once in the history of the club. It is difficult to create teams who can do it, but we were 13 minutes from winning in Paris. On the night we just paid for a lack of experience.
If there had been 11 men versus 11 men on the pitch, we had a very good chance to win the game against Barcelona. We were not at all overawed.”
But history records that goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was sent off before the 20th minute and Arsenal had to play three-quarters of the match with 10 men. Wenger lets out a deep breath of regret. “If I was a neutral supporter, I would say no, Lehmann should not have been sent off, and I still feel their first goal was offside. That is a regret, of course. To concede an offside goal when you are 10 v 11 – but that is the price you have to pay for being there. It took me a week to have normal sleep again. You never get completely over it, never forget about it. But you come back to who lives around you and to being a normal human being again.”
Whether his partner, Annie Brosterhous, a former French Olympic basketball player, and their daughter, born in 1997, feel he has ever been a “normal human being”, with his well-publicised passion for football video-viewing day and night, is open to interpretation. But at least he never kicks the cat. “No, because we have no cat,” he said. “But you think about a defeat like that, how you could have done differently.” It is, definitely, haunting. At the end of the match some of his comments were deemed ungracious. It was probably no more than disgust at losing and the inability, in the furnace of the moment, to disguise it. “I did not feel ungracious. I said nothing against Barcelona. They played well without being exceptional. But if you mean that I was upset to concede an offside goal, I prefer to be ungracious.” He smiled.
He mellowed a little at the World Cup that followed in Germany. “I realised how popular Arsenal players had become all over the world. People from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, everywhere, came up to congratulate the players.” This worldwide appreciation society would prove handy for recruiting players: “Everybody dreams to be Thierry Henry.”
In one vital sense, Wenger’s dreams came true regarding the French striker. After a season of speculation, Henry decided to stay with Arsenal immediately after losing the Champions League final, despite the obvious lures of Barcelona. One of the ways Wenger persuaded Henry to remain with Arsenal – albeit for just one more season – was his ability to make individuals feel special. Of Vieira, he once said: “We want him to be forever at Arsenal.” Of Bergkamp: “A player who gets close to perfection.” Of Henry: “You could say we play for him in a way.” Yet he is also the manager who insists on the organic whole of the team. “What you have to get out of every player is a servant for the team’s vision and goals.”
BUT HENRY is gone, and Arsenal have a new home. How much have things changed? “I fell in love with Highbury more than I ever imagined,” said Wenger. “There was a soul in that place you could never forget. There was something there that made it magic. As proud as I am of the Emirates, I loved Highbury as much. There was something there that made you feel like family. You were close to everybody. The pitch was small. Not one stand looked exactly like another one. You feel the whole history of the club is in there.”
His greatest Highbury moment? “The first title against Everton, when we won 4-0 in 1998. Tony Adams scored a goal, one becoming of Franz Beckenbauer. That was great because it showed I could win in England. It was a great day. When you win a championship it is not always programmed to be 4-0 at home on such a nice spring day. If you had made a film, you could not have organised it in a better way. It was magnificent. It became very emotional. Then you control yourself again.
“But the last day at Highbury was exceptional as well. We needed Spurs to lose and us to win. Yet before half-time we were 2-1 down to Wigan. I don’t remember what I said in the dressing room – something like, ‘Give absolutely everything in the second half. Go out here, at this stadium, win this game. There is no other possible way than slaughtering Wigan in the second half’. It was fantastic in the end. Spurs lost to West Ham, we secured a Champions League place for the future of the club and we moved to the Emirates on a positive note.”
And the worst Highbury moment? “The defeat by Chelsea in the last minute of the [2003-4] Champions League quarter-final. We didn’t get so far for years and that last-minute goal was like a knife.”
Wenger is accused in some quarters of an antiEnglish bias, despite living happily in England since 1996. “I can prove this is not true by the fact that we are scouting everywhere and we get more positive reports from abroad than England. The relation between price and quality is better abroad and we had limited finances in the years leading up to the Emirates.”
Arsenal’s training ground chef observed that some players had never seen, never tasted, a variety of vegetables. “It’s true,” said Wenger. “Some come from quite poor backgrounds, so they do not get the best food always. I was lucky in the village where I grew up. We had our own garden with home-grown potatoes and tomatoes. We were organic before the word was invented. But I like England. I have a very strong Anglo-Saxon side. The English, like me, have a lot of contradictions. They are very positive people. They are private, restricted with their feelings, but like to invade other people’s privacy. I don’t watch Big Brother. It is the wrong side of modern society, that people who do nothing become quickly famous with no merit other than sitting in front of the camera. I don’t like that fake side. To become a great footballer you need motivation, dedication, talent, and yet just being in front of a camera makes you considered successful. What is terrible is the polls of the under16s who say what they want to be is ‘famous’ – not to be a good singer, or footballer or veterinary student, they just want to be famous. What kind of target is that in life?”
Wenger will never retire from football. “There is no other way but to remain in football. It is not part of your life. It is your life. It’s terrible to lose your passion. For players, they lose their passion, fame and income at the same time. The money is not a problem for players any more. Now they only lose the other two. If you no longer have a target in life, it can be very boring. There is nothing more terrible than remorse.”
Wenger, one would imagine, has no remorse whatever for time misspent. “I always think I could have done better. But I could have done much worse as well.”
Finally: has he ever eaten a chip? He looks nonplussed. “What is that?” A french fry. “Yes, of course, I love it,” he replied, debunking the myth that the revolution he wrought in the eating habits of English football was something he religiously adopted himself. “I come from Alsace, where we produce potatoes. I eat potatoes. But I restrict myself. Like all things you forbid. Once, from time to time, you have to do it.”
He looks mischievous. “That is my contradiction.”
The Arsenal Opus
- This exclusive Arsène Wenger interview is an extract from the Arsenal Opus, published this week by Kraken Sport & Media. It has also published a similar tome on American football’s Super Bowl and Manchester United. Taking more than two years to produce, its 850 pages contain more than 400,000 words detailing the story of the historic club and exclusive interviews with the players and personalities who have defi ned it, written by leading sports journalists n The Opus, which measures half a metre square and weighs in at 37kg, boasts more than 2,000 photographs. It is a limited edition with a print run of just 1,500 and retails for £3,000. Each copy is signed by Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager. In addition, 500 copies of the Icons edition are available for £4,250 each. Copies of the Icons edition are additionally signed by various legendary Arsenal players including Tony Adams, Patrick Vieira, Dennis Bergkamp and Charlie George among others. For further information visit www.krakenopus.com
10% discount exclusive to readers of The Sunday Times We are delighted to offer the Arsenal Opus at an exclusive 10% discount to Sunday Times readers if ordered by Friday, September 21, 2007. To take advantage of this fantastic offer simply call 020 7213 9587 and quote reference AO1309. The Arsenal Opus is available now at www.arsenalopus.com
How many managers think like this? Did Sir Alex Ferguson talk of love like a hopeless romantic? He did not. But perhaps Arsène Wenger’s very foreignness allowed him to take cultural gambles. He could play an all-foreign team, he could utter unBritish sentences full of sentiment and emotion and still retain his dignity. And dignified he certainly is. He has a lived-in face – lively, but scoured into lines by the multitude of thought processes (90% football) that rage behind his eyes. He is charming, witty, tall, lean, intelligent and with just a touch of your old RE teacher, the one who was always knocking books off his desk. His politeness is exemplary, his strictness demonstrable.
Wenger’s arrival at Arsenal brought a revolution in playing style and an upsurge in trophies won. “We wanted to entertain. We have the responsibility to people who pay £50 or more to watch a game. They deserve to see the best of the best. At least, that has to be your ambition. In 2002 we played the football of dreams. Everybody at his peak. They had the hunger, desire, intelligence to be successful.”
The football Arsenal were producing at the start of the 2002-3 season propelled Wenger into a pronouncement he would not be allowed to forget. He said he thought it was possible for a team to play a whole season undefeated. How people scoffed. And how frustrated he became when the promise was unfulfilled. Years later, he still displays unease at the perceived injustice.
“In some games it was unfair the way we lost. At one we were kicked off the park without the referee interfering at all. I felt that we lost the title in 2003 and justice was not done.”
There was an element of ungraciousness when he maintained that Arsenal were a better team than new champions, Manchester United. When Ferguson claimed the same thing a year later, Wenger replied, “Everyone thinks he has the prettiest wife at home,” a remark that may have bamboozled Sir Alex into thinking Lady Ferguson’s looks had been brought into the argument. It was another of Wenger’s analogies that sometimes flew over the heads of their targets.
But in May 2003, as Arsenal’s form became bogged down, Wenger was nursing a sense of grievance. “Old Vinegar Face,” he was called by Ferguson. “I am not perfect, but I did not think we had been treated fairly by the referees,” Wenger said. “That is why I was not so gracious in defeat. You don’t lie down, you don’t feel sorry for yourself, you come back even stronger.
“This we did the following year, the unbeaten year. That was the biggest year of any English football team ever. To play the whole [league] season unbeaten, people don’t realise what it means. Every Saturday, every Wednesday, playing in the European Cup as well. You go home, you are tired, go to Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester . . . you cannot afford to lose one single game. We came close to losing a few times, but the closest was the first, when we played Manchester United. There was a penalty in the last minute, which was missed.”
This mention might have been mischief on Wenger’s part, the infamous game at Old Trafford resulting in disciplinary procedures against both teams for the overspilling emotion of the occasion and the fact that Arsenal’s celebration of Ruud van Nistelrooy’s penalty miss was considered ungentlemanly.
A 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford in October 2004 halted the unbeaten run at 49 matches and ended the affair with invincibility, but it was magnificent while it lasted – and as a final flourish to 2004-5, Arsenal won the FA Cup (on penalties). United were the beaten finalists.
UNDER Wenger, Arsenal have won three Premier League titles and four FA Cups, but it is a defeat that is often regarded as the climax of his career in England. Looking back to the 2006 Champions League final, which Arsenal lost 2-1 to Barcelona in Paris, he reflected: “It was the miracle of the year. For a long part of the season I had the problem of convincing my players how good they were. Because we lost Patrick Vieira, Sol [Campbell] was injured, Ashley Cole only played seven games, it was very difficult. And yet I felt we were good enough.”
There was also the problem of being short of funds, much of it being ploughed into the Emirates stadium. “Yes, but we anticipated that by bringing in good young players four, five years ago. Fabregas, Van Persie, Reyes and, more lately, Flamini, Eboue, Senderos. Not household names, but I tried to convince my players they can make a name for themselves.
“Real Madrid – the first leg away in the Champions League – was the result that convinced them. Suddenly, everybody looks at you differently. It’s strange that when you feel vulnerable, you are vulnerable. When you feel strong, you are strong. When you see the first 10 minutes, it should have been 3-0 to Arsenal. Henry’s goal was one of his greats. Ronaldo chased back on him, Thierry just shrugged him off.”
Wenger looks distant for a moment, while he replays the goal on the video recorder behind his eyes. “It was one of my greatest nights with Arsenal, because that was what we needed, but nobody expected it against the galacticos. Then we played well against Juventus at Highbury. It was great to see that what we realised against Madrid was not an accident. It was confirmation of our quality.”
The significant moment that many people identified was Vieira, now subdued in his Juve shirt, being hauled to his feet after a collision in the quarter-final first leg with a smiling Cesc Fabregas, his replacement in the Arsenal lineup. Both Wenger prodigies, but only one winner.
Both legs of the semi-final against Villarreal were disappointing. “We looked paralysed,” said Wenger. “No Arsenal team had gone this far before. The fact is, we have reached the Champions League final once in the history of the club. It is difficult to create teams who can do it, but we were 13 minutes from winning in Paris. On the night we just paid for a lack of experience.
If there had been 11 men versus 11 men on the pitch, we had a very good chance to win the game against Barcelona. We were not at all overawed.”
But history records that goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was sent off before the 20th minute and Arsenal had to play three-quarters of the match with 10 men. Wenger lets out a deep breath of regret. “If I was a neutral supporter, I would say no, Lehmann should not have been sent off, and I still feel their first goal was offside. That is a regret, of course. To concede an offside goal when you are 10 v 11 – but that is the price you have to pay for being there. It took me a week to have normal sleep again. You never get completely over it, never forget about it. But you come back to who lives around you and to being a normal human being again.”
Whether his partner, Annie Brosterhous, a former French Olympic basketball player, and their daughter, born in 1997, feel he has ever been a “normal human being”, with his well-publicised passion for football video-viewing day and night, is open to interpretation. But at least he never kicks the cat. “No, because we have no cat,” he said. “But you think about a defeat like that, how you could have done differently.” It is, definitely, haunting. At the end of the match some of his comments were deemed ungracious. It was probably no more than disgust at losing and the inability, in the furnace of the moment, to disguise it. “I did not feel ungracious. I said nothing against Barcelona. They played well without being exceptional. But if you mean that I was upset to concede an offside goal, I prefer to be ungracious.” He smiled.
He mellowed a little at the World Cup that followed in Germany. “I realised how popular Arsenal players had become all over the world. People from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, everywhere, came up to congratulate the players.” This worldwide appreciation society would prove handy for recruiting players: “Everybody dreams to be Thierry Henry.”
In one vital sense, Wenger’s dreams came true regarding the French striker. After a season of speculation, Henry decided to stay with Arsenal immediately after losing the Champions League final, despite the obvious lures of Barcelona. One of the ways Wenger persuaded Henry to remain with Arsenal – albeit for just one more season – was his ability to make individuals feel special. Of Vieira, he once said: “We want him to be forever at Arsenal.” Of Bergkamp: “A player who gets close to perfection.” Of Henry: “You could say we play for him in a way.” Yet he is also the manager who insists on the organic whole of the team. “What you have to get out of every player is a servant for the team’s vision and goals.”
BUT HENRY is gone, and Arsenal have a new home. How much have things changed? “I fell in love with Highbury more than I ever imagined,” said Wenger. “There was a soul in that place you could never forget. There was something there that made it magic. As proud as I am of the Emirates, I loved Highbury as much. There was something there that made you feel like family. You were close to everybody. The pitch was small. Not one stand looked exactly like another one. You feel the whole history of the club is in there.”
His greatest Highbury moment? “The first title against Everton, when we won 4-0 in 1998. Tony Adams scored a goal, one becoming of Franz Beckenbauer. That was great because it showed I could win in England. It was a great day. When you win a championship it is not always programmed to be 4-0 at home on such a nice spring day. If you had made a film, you could not have organised it in a better way. It was magnificent. It became very emotional. Then you control yourself again.
“But the last day at Highbury was exceptional as well. We needed Spurs to lose and us to win. Yet before half-time we were 2-1 down to Wigan. I don’t remember what I said in the dressing room – something like, ‘Give absolutely everything in the second half. Go out here, at this stadium, win this game. There is no other possible way than slaughtering Wigan in the second half’. It was fantastic in the end. Spurs lost to West Ham, we secured a Champions League place for the future of the club and we moved to the Emirates on a positive note.”
And the worst Highbury moment? “The defeat by Chelsea in the last minute of the [2003-4] Champions League quarter-final. We didn’t get so far for years and that last-minute goal was like a knife.”
Wenger is accused in some quarters of an antiEnglish bias, despite living happily in England since 1996. “I can prove this is not true by the fact that we are scouting everywhere and we get more positive reports from abroad than England. The relation between price and quality is better abroad and we had limited finances in the years leading up to the Emirates.”
Arsenal’s training ground chef observed that some players had never seen, never tasted, a variety of vegetables. “It’s true,” said Wenger. “Some come from quite poor backgrounds, so they do not get the best food always. I was lucky in the village where I grew up. We had our own garden with home-grown potatoes and tomatoes. We were organic before the word was invented. But I like England. I have a very strong Anglo-Saxon side. The English, like me, have a lot of contradictions. They are very positive people. They are private, restricted with their feelings, but like to invade other people’s privacy. I don’t watch Big Brother. It is the wrong side of modern society, that people who do nothing become quickly famous with no merit other than sitting in front of the camera. I don’t like that fake side. To become a great footballer you need motivation, dedication, talent, and yet just being in front of a camera makes you considered successful. What is terrible is the polls of the under16s who say what they want to be is ‘famous’ – not to be a good singer, or footballer or veterinary student, they just want to be famous. What kind of target is that in life?”
Wenger will never retire from football. “There is no other way but to remain in football. It is not part of your life. It is your life. It’s terrible to lose your passion. For players, they lose their passion, fame and income at the same time. The money is not a problem for players any more. Now they only lose the other two. If you no longer have a target in life, it can be very boring. There is nothing more terrible than remorse.”
Wenger, one would imagine, has no remorse whatever for time misspent. “I always think I could have done better. But I could have done much worse as well.”
Finally: has he ever eaten a chip? He looks nonplussed. “What is that?” A french fry. “Yes, of course, I love it,” he replied, debunking the myth that the revolution he wrought in the eating habits of English football was something he religiously adopted himself. “I come from Alsace, where we produce potatoes. I eat potatoes. But I restrict myself. Like all things you forbid. Once, from time to time, you have to do it.”
He looks mischievous. “That is my contradiction.”
The Arsenal Opus
- This exclusive Arsène Wenger interview is an extract from the Arsenal Opus, published this week by Kraken Sport & Media. It has also published a similar tome on American football’s Super Bowl and Manchester United. Taking more than two years to produce, its 850 pages contain more than 400,000 words detailing the story of the historic club and exclusive interviews with the players and personalities who have defi ned it, written by leading sports journalists n The Opus, which measures half a metre square and weighs in at 37kg, boasts more than 2,000 photographs. It is a limited edition with a print run of just 1,500 and retails for £3,000. Each copy is signed by Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager. In addition, 500 copies of the Icons edition are available for £4,250 each. Copies of the Icons edition are additionally signed by various legendary Arsenal players including Tony Adams, Patrick Vieira, Dennis Bergkamp and Charlie George among others. For further information visit www.krakenopus.com
10% discount exclusive to readers of The Sunday Times We are delighted to offer the Arsenal Opus at an exclusive 10% discount to Sunday Times readers if ordered by Friday, September 21, 2007. To take advantage of this fantastic offer simply call 020 7213 9587 and quote reference AO1309. The Arsenal Opus is available now at www.arsenalopus.com
订阅：
博文 (Atom)